Chores

We have spent most of the past two days working on chores. Yesterday we dinghied 1 1/2 miles to shore and walked a short distance to a laundromat, Baranki Wash. We tied the dinghy to a cinderblock on the wall of a boat ramp. The laundromat was extremely busy—with laundry from local residents, not cruisers—but we were able to get two loads done in 1 1/2 hours. Not bad. George spent the entire afternoon fixing a problem we had with a cracked hinge on the dinghy. We believe the hinge cracked from the torque created by the spinning propeller on the outboard, not by lifting the dinghy with the motor attached. The Porta-Bote company states that our dinghy should have an outboard with a maximum of 6 hp. Ours is 8 hp, so we aren’t surprised that the hinge cracked. George switched the cracked hinge with another one that isn’t under any force. In addition, he reinforced the hinge. 

Today we stayed on the boat awaiting the arrival of a front. We were hoping for enough rain to wash the salt off of the boat but we had just a few sprinkles. The front caused the wind to shift directions but, fortunately, the wind has remained relatively light. While we awaited the front, George ran the water maker and I did some sewing projects. 

UPDATES: The pool noodles in the water tank reduced the sloshing noise a great deal. Thank you for the suggestion, Michael! Every now and then we hear a slight noise but we probably wouldn’t even notice if we weren’t paying attention. On the other hand, the frost in the fridge seems worse than ever. Back to the drawing board. 

Approaching the steps we will use to climb out of the dinghy at the boat ramp wall. 

We had to improvise a place to tie the dinghy. 

A nice option for laundry in the George Town area. 

Today’s sewing project—one of the new line bags for the dinghy. We normally dump the lines in the bow of the dinghy and they can form quite a rat’s nest. We are hoping these bags help.

Replacement hinge with reinforcement.